Tom Tancredo on Principles & Values

Republican Representative (CO-6)

Won’t vote GOP if nominee is lesser of two evils

Q: Would you pledge now to support the nominee of your party?

A: I am absolutely tired and sick and tired of being forced to go to the polls and say I’m going to make this choice between the lesser of two evils.
I really don’t intend to do that again. I am hoping, of course, that whoever we nominate will be the principal flag carrier for the Republican Party, but if that is not the case, no, then I will not.

Source: 2007 Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan
Oct 9, 2007

Degrading morals could make us lose clash of civilizations

Any great civilization cannot be conquered from without until it actually destroys itself from within. I think most of us are here tonight because we share some sort of concern. We share the general feeling that there is a degradation of our own society,
especially the morals of our society. We recognize that it is important for us. This is an important issue in order for us to survive in this clash of civilizations in which we are engaged.

A president has relatively few options available to him in
order to direct the moral course of the nation, but can certainly be profoundly influential. George Washington was by himself a leader, and set the soul of this nation, created the soul of the nation. Ronald Reagan, constantly uplifting the nation.
Bill Clinton redefined morality to the level of an alley cat. We know that this can happen. We know presidents have this kind of thing. I guarantee you that I will try my level best as long as I breathe to take us in a different direction.

Defining mistake: waiting 30 years to accept Jesus as savior

A:
I have no doubt of what the greatest mistake in my life has been. And that is that it took me probably 30 years before I realized that Jesus Christ is my personal savior.

Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Aug 5, 2007

We can no longer afford political correctness

Q: What will you restore to the Oval Office?

A: Hope. Hope in America itself. We made mistakes that have turned our friends against us, have encouraged our enemies. I believe that it is going to take a leader committed to speaking out about the values
of Western civilization. We can no longer afford political correctness. We have to tell people that there is something good--not just good, but great--about who we are. That will restore America’s faith in itself and the world’s faith in America.

Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Aug 5, 2007

Only Republican to appear at NAACP annual convention

GOP presidential hopefuls have shied away from appearing before organizations and groups deemed to have a liberal slant. But don’t tell that to Tom Tancredo, the lone Republican to appear this morning at the NAACP’s annual convention in Detroit.

After
he came out, Tancredo wandered around the empty stage, not knowing which podium to use. “Oh, right here?” he said when led to the center lectern. “Oh my gosh, this is amazing. Do you think we should wait a few minutes to see if these other guys show up?”
Tancredo said, drawing a big laugh from the crowd. The NAACP has set up placards for all of the Republican candidates at each podium--highlighting the no-shows except for Tancredo. “Do they know something I don’t know, is that it? I think actually
I know something that THEY don’t know.”

That line drew a loud cheer from the audience, clearly appreciative that Tancredo had bothered to show up. He noted that while he & the organization “don’t agree on every issue,” they share “a very common cause.”

As president, would tell Bush to never visit White House

Q: How would you use George W. Bush in your administration?

A: Some time ago, 2003 I think it was, I got a call from Karl Rove who told me that because of my criticism of the president, I should never darken the doorstep of the White House. I have
been so disappointed in the president, not just the immigration issue, but the massive increase in government that we call Medicare prescription drug, that I’m afraid, as president, I’d have to tell George Bush exactly the same thing Karl Rove told me.

Source: 2007 GOP debate at Saint Anselm College
Jun 3, 2007

Bush’s mistake: ran as conservative; governed as a liberal

Q: What has been President Bush’s biggest mistake since taking office?

A: The biggest problem, I think, in this administration has been the fact that the president ran as a conservative and governed as a liberal.
That is what has really been the basis, I think, of the distrust that has developed among the Republican base. It’s well-founded. We have to do something about that.

Source: 2007 GOP debate at Saint Anselm College
Jun 3, 2007

Opposes McCain as nominee; wouldn’t support him if nominated

Q: McCain says you have to find a way to have comprehensive immigration reform. He doesn’t like the idea of building a fence along the US-Mexican border. He wants the reform to include not only the guest worker program, but the pathway towards
citizenship.

A: McCain also said, essentially pointing to, you know, the unwashed masses, all the stupid people out in the US who are demanding a fence, if they really want it, he’ll give them a g-d fence.
It goes to show you what his attitude is toward the American people. I mean, he’s quite an elitist there.

Q: If he’s the Republican presidential nominee, would you vote for him?

A: No, I would not. And I’m going do everything I can to make sure that he is not the Republican presidential nominee.

Audacious agenda: limited government & individual freedom

“This guy’s got an agenda,” my opponent screamed at me. The charge has been hurled at me in almost ever political campaign I have ever waged. Every time, I answer the same way: “You bet your life I do!”

I have always wanted to advance the agenda of
limited government and enhanced individual freedom. I want to participate in the reintroduction of the concept that America is a unique place, not just a place we can reap the economic & political benefits afforded by the labors of those who lived before
us. I want our borders to be secure and those who have violated them to be deprived of the benefits lawful citizens enjoy. I want immigrants seeking that citizenship to assimilate & sever their ties to their country of origin. I want to do what I can to
defend the West in the clash of civilizations that threatens humanity.

The parts of my agenda that have generated the most trouble for me deal with the security of our borders and with my criticism of what I refer to as the “cult of multiculturalism.”

Label “lightning rod” suits me fine

I have lived by my commitment to do everything I can to avoid falling into the political pitfall that happens to so many congressmen after a few years: simply taking up space. To my surprise, perhaps the phrase “lightening rod” is used more often than an
other to describe me. Although writers or speakers in a negative connotation use it, the description suits me fine.

There is a price to pay for standing up for what I believe rather than going along. My differences of opinion with my GOP colleagues & m
willingness to voice them mean that I almost certainly will never be the chair of a major House committee. After Karl Rove told me to “never darken the door of the White House” because of my criticism of the president, I expected no calls to confer with
him on immigration issues. If ever Congress does pass immigration reform, my name won’t be on it as a principal sponsor. During a debate with a colleague, he said I should resign from the party because my views were not the same as his or the president’s

We’ve lost 1950s selfless devotion to civic duty

In America in the 1950s, the term “civic duty” had the connotation of selfless devotion to the American creed.
Students once learned of the hardships endured by patriotic volunteer soldiers who made sacrifices for the ideas and ideals embodied in the documents that that were read to them by their officers at Valley Forge.
In the 1950s, people of faith were regarded as the pillars of their community, and it was perfectly acceptable to display an American flag.

Today, our schools and almost every social institution send a totally different message.
Civic duty, for instance, is currently considered by too many office holders as an obligation to erase any vestige of pride in the symbols or the substance of the land of the free and home of the brave.

Terrorists have no identity crisis, while we do

The battle for our way of life must continue beyond Congress into the streets. We must talk about the value of Western civilization and the principles it embodies. If we just live in America with no particular philosophy, no set of ideals that are worth
our allegiance, then the opponents of Western civilization will continue to corrupt our children’s minds with false ideas.

The terrorists who seek to kill us know exactly who they are. They have no identity crisis.
They know and believe with all their being the philosophy and religious underpinnings of their worldview. They are intent upon spreading it with word and deed, by violence, if necessary.

We must use our schools, churches,
and government to reestablish an allegiance to the principles of Western civilization. Those principles are embodied in the Judeo-Christian ethic and whether we follow them or not will surely determine the fate of the nation.

Religious affiliation: Presbyterian.

Tancredo : religious affiliation:

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